spiderxx7 wrote:So it's the San Francisco Warriors now. Great touch Nice to see the sim being good to you.

Yep. I figured it made sense that since they were moving to a new arena in San Fran, so they may as well change their name as well.

There have been some interesting changes around the league. The Pelicans moved to Seattle, Louisville and San Diego got expansion teams and OKC moved to the Southwest division when the Pelicans became the Sonics.

I know the feeling, and it happens in real life as well as video games. It seems like a player has scored 40 points and hasn't missed a shot, yet the total and shooting percentage aren't quite that high when you take a look at the end of the game.

The Phoenix Suns are still riding high several months after their surprise NBA Finals win over the Chicago Bulls. They then had a productive off-season, adding all-star center Nikola Jokic through free agency and re-signing finals MVP Devin Booker to a long-term deal.

They have also started the new season on a positive note by winning eight of their first ten games, including a memorable victory over their bogie team the Warriors. That strong start sees them mixing it with the likes of Oklahoma City, Portland and San Francisco in the battle for the top seed of the western conference.

But as with all successful teams, they are due to face some tough decisions as players come out of contract and expect to be paid larger salaries.

Phoenix salaries & future cap situation

The good news for Phoenix is that they have Devin Booker locked in for five years and Nikola Jokic for four years. Marcus Smart also has three years remaining on a good value deal. The bad news is that they have eight players who are set to become free agents at the end of the current season.

There are also team options for both Jonathan Jeanne and Kevin Knox, which they will surely pick up.

Right now, the Suns could have as much as $30 million in cap room to spend next off-season. Take away the roughly $3 million for Jeanne and Knox and it drops to about $27 million.

Dudley, Bayless and Lauvergne seem to be backup players on the team and rather expendable. If they are offered new contracts it will most likely be for the minimum salary.

Bembry will need to prove himself to be a solid bench contributor this season in order to convince the Suns that he deserves a new deal.

Hardaway Jr and Miles have already provided critical bench scoring so far and could be brought back next season, as long as they don't cost too much.

The potential big earners

That just leaves the two biggest names on their free agent list. A pair of 22 year old big men who both played key roles in their championship run last season.

Dragan Bender; the inconsistent unicorn who has all-star potential, but still needs to develop an NBA body and a more assertive mentality.

And Marquese Chriss; the high-flying dunker who has developed into a key bench scorer, but has yet to figure out how to play with the same intensity at the other end of the court.

At current market rates Bender could be looking to earn somewhere between $18 to $22 million per season. Such an extension would basically put the Suns out of the running for any big-name free agents at the end of the season.

A deal for Chriss is a bit harder to gauge. He isn't a starter for Phoenix, but he did prove himself to be a more consistent performer than Bender in the NBA Finals. He came off the bench to put up double-figures each game, including a game-high 32 points in game six.

He has become a key bench player for the team and is even being suggested as one of the top candidates for the Sixth Man of the Year award this season. He could realistically ask for a similar salary to Bender.

Phoenix will no doubt have a limit on how much they are willing to pay Chriss. So it will be interesting to see what happens if both parties can't agree on a mutually beneficial agreement before the trade deadline arrives. He could find himself playing for a new team come March.

It's hard to see them wanting to have more than three players earning over $20 million per season.

Another top quality free agency pool awaits

The potential free agent list for next season is almost as star-studded as the one that we just saw.

It's not quite that straightforward though. Davis, DeRozan, Drummond and Fournier will only be free agents if they decline their player options for next season.

Kawhi Leonard just got traded to his hometown Lakers by request, so it's unlikely that he will be leaving.

Draymond Green is a key part of the championship-winning Warriors juggernaut. He won't be going anywhere, especially now that Klay Thompson is gone and there is more money available in their cap.

The Kyrie Irving situation in Boston is 50-50 right now. On paper the team around him is a contender with Paul George, Al Horford and Thaddeus Young. But they haven't made it past the first round of the playoffs in either of the past two seasons.

The ones most likely to leave in search of a better chance of winning a championship are Jimmy Butler and Kevin Love. It's not hard to imagine LeBron luring either of them to the Lakers.

It wouldn't be surprising to see Anthony Davis actually decline his player option and go join a superteam. He has spent his entire career carrying his team on his back and probably wants someone to help share the load.

Tough call. I've let players go or risked losing them in the "re-sign" phase of franchise games to make a run at the big names, only to have them re-sign or quickly sign elsewhere. That's left me to re-sign the player I was willing to let walk, or worst case scenario, lose out on them as well.